Decolourisation of the Textile Dye Methyl Red from Aqueous Solution Using Sugarcane Bagasse Pith

The present study investigates the potential of sugarcane bagasse pith, an agro waste as an effective adsorbent for the removal of methyl red. Physicochemical parameters like concentration of dye, amount of adsorbent, temperature, pH and contact time were optimized to develop faster decolourization process. The spectrophotometric technique was adopted for the estimation of the concentration of dye before and after the adsorption. The results showed that the maximum decolourization (86%) of methyl red by sugarcane bagasse pith was found in 10 mg/L dye, 500 g/L of the adsorbent dose at pH 5 with temperature 30°C for 5 days. UV-vis spectral analysis showed a new peak at 781 nm which confirms the degradation of methyl red. The surface structure of the adsorbent treated with dye showed a significant difference when compared with control. The earlier results justify the applicability of the bagasse in removal of methyl red from textile wastewaters and their safe disposal.